Eastbound
by windwhisprer
Summary: [oneshot] If you don’t put it behind you, how are you ever going to be able to look towards the future?


**A/N: **This took WAY longer then it should have. I think I wrote about six different endings before I finally picked one, and I'm still not completely pleased with it. (insert sigh here) But this idea has been bumping about in my head for a while now. Not quite a oneshot, but not really a drabble. O.o It's a weird little thing.

Anyway, if you stand on your head after beating said body part into a wall several times, squint your eyes and then shake the computer screen a little, you might be able to see some 3x9 and 5x8. You don't have to see it if you don't want to. Honestly, I don't even know if it's there. I'm the kind of person that thinks Goku is hitting on Sanzo whenever he asks for food. Who knows?

Anyway, enjoy. C&C appreciated.

**Eastbound**

Goku stepped over the mass of shattered glass and debris. It felt like only seconds ago he was standing below all the crumpled brick, running through the halls with Hakkai, Sanzo and Gojyo on his heels. He laughed softly at the memory of fighting Kougaiji in the midst of the collapsing castle. To the end the pair could not help but squeeze in one last scuffle. Somehow, the pair managed to push past the collapsing doors in time. Kougaiji and his group had left some time last night, while his group…

Goku glanced around the large abandoned area with a soft sigh. Gojyo and Hakkai were standing a couple yards away, mostly just talking as they roamed about the destruction, a lot like he was. The pair had escaped with a few slashes and bruises, but truthfully there had been nothing to worry about. Goku had escaped with little more then a few cuts and three broken fingers. Sanzo…

The young brunet turned his attention away from his two friends, scanning the area once gain. Rubble for as far as the eye could see. They had managed to stop the resurrection, but the sheer pressure of everything caused the castle to collapse into itself. They had been in the main laboratory at the time, and when the rumbling started, everyone had turned, and began to run for their lives. Except Sanzo, who turned back at the last minute for some reason. Goku had gone back after him, and after a short exchange, he convinced the man to come with him. Staying was suicide.

Goku let his eyes rest softly on the form seated on a rock. Golden hair shone in the early morning sunlight as the young man continued to dig through the rubble with one hand. He suddenly stopped, and Goku wondered if Sanzo had found what he had been looking for.

The man had suffered a large cut to his forehead, which last night had leaked blood at an alarming rate. He had also fractured his right arm, which now sat in a cast. His robes were cast aside in favor of his leathers, his hair disheveled and his eyes drained from a sleepless night. Goku could practically feel the tension straining down upon him from the past month and a half. It had been trying on all of them, but mostly on the young monk.

"Hey," Goku whispered, his voice unusually light as he sat down not far from the man. "How're you doing?"

Instead of shooting back a snarl of a reply, Sanzo merely hung his head, allowing a sigh to escape from his lungs. He wound his left hand through his hair, the other arm splinted and hanging from a sling. "I don't know…" he breathed, before turning his eyes up to face the young brunet, who offered a soft smile of reassurance. His eyes then trailed back to the ground, scanning it as though he could see all the way down into the depths of the rubble. "Everything's just so… I don't even know what to do anymore… Everything's over, what are we supposed to so now?"

Goku frowned softly, wanting to comfort the man but unsure how to. Everyone could see the stress building in the young monk as they approached their destination. He was anxious, tense and unsure of how everything would come together. Sanzo had expected death to come to himself if not some other member of the party. But they had all lived, and succeeded. Sanzo was a little more then rattled. Smiling softly, Goku turned to look out over the sky, watching as it gradually became lighter and lighter. "What else, Sanzo?" he could feel the monk's eyes on him, but he continued to watch the sky. "We go home."

"Just like that?" Sanzo asked, his eyes turning back towards the ground, tracing along the debris. "I failed, Goku. I couldn't even get my Master's scripture. It's buried beneath a mile of rubble, and all I have to do is go home? I've been searching for it for years, Goku. _What the hell am I supposed to do now?!_"

The last sentence was shot out with pure anger and exasperation that Goku resisted the temptation to flinch. He merely turned back to the monk and gave him a soft look. He could feel Sanzo's pure frustration, and could understand—somewhat—of where he was coming from. Rising to his feet, Goku closed his eyes and allowed the sun to warm his face. "Move on, Sanzo," he could hear the monk's soft growl, but he continued anyway, "We all have to grow up, and move on. Just like how Kougaiji's going to have to move on from the loss of his mother, you have to get over the scripture and maybe your master too." Ignoring the dark look, Goku continued. "It happened a long time ago, Sanzo. If you don't put it behind you, how are you ever going to be able to look towards the future?"

There was a low chuckle, and the pair turned towards Gojyo and Hakkai, who had somehow wandered over towards them. Gojyo slung his arm over Hakkai's shoulder, grinning. "The future? Since when did you get so poetic, Goku?"

Said brunet simply stuck his tongue out in a childish way.

Hakkai laughed softly. "But Goku has a point, we all have to look towards the future," he said as he eyed Gojyo's grinning face, Goku's quiet smile and Sanzo's impassive look. "And for us… it sounds like the future is eastward."

Gojyo could only laugh; the sound spreading out over the rubble. "Hell Hakkai, after so long heading west, I don't think any of us know how to go east."

The young man joined him in laughter, and soon Goku was attempting to stiffen chuckles behind his hand, before laughing out loud with them. It felt good to laugh again. After a moment, Sanzo's own rich chuckles joined them, and the three demons could only stare at their human companion. Sanzo stood suddenly, grabbing his cigarettes out of his pockets and lighting one up. The four of them sat in silence before finally Sanzo took the cigarette from his mouth and said, "It took us three fucking years to get here. If I have to stand another three with the idiots in the backseat squabbling over _anything_ edible, I think I'll lose my mind."

At this, Goku could only burst out laughing; Gojyo and Hakkai wisely stiffened their chuckles. Sanzo merely growled, grinding his knuckles into the young monkey's hair, muttering insults and sentences that began with, "If I had my gun…"

"So what do you think, Hakkai?" Gojyo asked, as he produced his own pack of cigarettes. "About our new situation?"

Hakkai smiled over towards his redheaded friend. "I think east will be a nice change."

Gojyo could only stare for a moment, before bursting out into chuckles. "Shit Hakkai, you're just one big cliché, aren't you?" Closing his eyes, the redhead simply smirked, placing his hands in his pockets. "It had to end someday, didn't it?" he muttered solemnly, almost inaudibly.

Goku then brushed past him, grinning. "What are you talking about, Gojyo? Nothing _ended_." At this, the half-breed opened his eyes and gave the brunet a blank stare. Goku smiled, "It just changed." He then turned, and headed towards the Jeep which was parked not far away.

"How does breakfast sound?" Hakkai asked cheerfully with a change of subject, heading past the group out towards the Jeep. Goku called his agreement, and Gojyo smirked. Turning towards Sanzo, he watched the monk light a new cigarette.

"Sanzo?"

"Hm," the monk grumbled. "I hate sunrises almost as much as I hate sunsets." Then he hurried past him to join the young healer and the monkey who seemed to have abandoned whatever maturity he'd demonstrated earlier.

Gojyo smirked as he watched the three of them attempt to work out breakfast arrangements. "We're just full of cheesy lines, aren't we?" he mumbled, grinding the cigarette butt into the ground and moving to join his friends.


End file.
